Former Foxconn managers detained in bribery inquiry

SHANGHAI — Authorities in Taiwan detained several former managers of Foxconn Technology on Wednesday as part of a widening investigation into whether they accepted millions of dollars in bribes from the company’s supply-chain partners.

Foxconn, which is one of the world’s biggest electronics assemblers and a main supplier to Apple, said Wednesday that the company is cooperating with investigators in Taiwan.

The investigation is another blow to the reputation of a company that has struggled in recent years with labor and worker-safety problems, including a spate of worker suicides at its Chinese facilities.

Few global companies are as large and flexible and adept at getting new products to market as Foxconn, which has contracts with most of the world’s major consumer-electronics brands.

Although the company is based in Taiwan, most of its global manufacturing takes place in central and southern China, at massive facilities that can employ up to 100,000 workers.

Foxconn, part of the Hon Hai Group, said that the fraudulent activities were found after an internal audit, and affected a small part of the business. The company also said it turned to the authorities in Taiwan in September hoping to prosecute those involved in wrongdoing.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for Apple referred questions about the inquiry to Foxconn.

In a statement released Wednesday, the company said: “Foxconn holds our company, our employees, and our suppliers to the highest standards in responsible business practices and the results of our internal audit have driven a number of enhancements to our company’s procurement policies to ensure that such violations cannot be repeated.”

Early last year, the Taiwan edition of Next magazine reported that a Foxconn executive in the coastal Chinese city of Shenzhen had been detained by police on bribery allegations.

In the report, Next said the executive had been accused of asking for bribes from suppliers.